A few more details have emerged regarding Charlie Kaufman’s Later The War, his return to movie directing…
Whether writing or directing, you know any film with Charlie Kaufman’s name attached to it is going to possess a distinct combination of wit, surrealism and inventiveness. However, the problem throughout much of this decade is that Kaufman has struggled to get his trademark style of storytelling through the studio system. It’s something he railed against in 2023, when he argued that the kind of thought-provoking art that he’s spent decades producing is slowly being erased from the filmmaking business.
While there’s no good way to spin Kaufman’s absence from our screens, the director of I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa is at least set to return to the director’s chair in Later The War, set to shoot this year. We first heard about the project earlier this week, but as it was shown off to potential investors at this month’s European Film Market in Berlin, more details have quickly emerged.
One key detail is casting for the film.
According to Deadline, Eddie Redmayne, Tessa Thompson and Patsy Ferran will all star. Redmayne is coming off the back of an acclaimed turn as an ice-cold hitman in the TV adaptation Day Of The Jackal, while Thompson also has a small screen turn approaching in the Netflix show His & Hers and a feature adaptation of the Ibsen play, Hedda, is directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels).
As for Ferran, she can next be seen next opposite Robert Pattinson in Mickey17, Bong Joon-ho’s anticipated cloning sci-fi satire heading to UK cinemas next Friday.
WIth a promising ensemble in place, we also have a nugget of plot to gnaw on, which all sounds very Kaufman-esque. The original short story which the film will be based on is called Debby’s Dream House by acclaimed author Iddo Gefen. It follows a man who ‘manufactures dreams for people but ultimately begins creating nightmares for them.’
Given how Kaufman has previously blurred the lines of memory or identity when writing such films as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Adaptation, we’re curious to see where he’ll take this clever narrative conceit.
We don’t yet know when Later The War is going into production, but there’ll be plenty of film fans out there just happy to see that Kaufman is finally back in a director’s chair for the first time since 2020’s I’m Thinking Of Ending Things. When we hear more, we’ll let you know.
We’re looking forward to the Mark Kermode/Simon Mayo interview as well.
